As promised, this is the official press release for the Coordianted Reservoirs Operations Program:
May 19, 2006
Releases for Endangered Fish Start Today
Releases from five Upper Colorado River Basin reservoirs will begin today to augment the natural peak of the Colorado River near Cameo, Colo. to help the recovery of four endangered fish. Dillon, Green Mountain, Williams Fork and Ruedi reservoirs began increasing releases downstream this afternoon. Wolford Mountain Reservoir will increase releases Sunday evening or Monday morning. Each reservoir will be bypassing inflow on downstream.
Outflows from these reservoirs are anticipated to be: 450-550 cfs from Dillon; 900-1000 cfs from Green Mountain; 350-450 cfs from Williams Fork; 650-800 cfs from Ruedi Reservoir; and 650-800 cfs from Wolford Mountain Reservoir.
Established in 1995 as part of the Upper Colorado River Basin Endangered Fish Recovery Program, the Coordinated Reservoir Operations Team coordinates reservoir releases of bypassed inflow to help enhance peak flows. The team uses continued tracking of snow pack and predicted runoff for the Colorado River basin to determine, each year, whether or not coordinated operations can occur. Conditions have allowed for the program to operate only three times in the past ten years.
Enhancing peak flows improves habitat for the four endangered fish of the Colorado River, assisting in their species recovery. In years when snow pack is above average, surplus inflows to the reservoirs can be passed on downstream to the Colorado River to benefit these fish. The Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker and bonytail are all native to the Colorado River and once had abundant populations.
For additional information please contact Kara Lamb of the Bureau of Reclamations Eastern Colorado Area Office via cell phone at (970) 215-9545, or
klamb@gp.usbr.gov.
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The Coordinated Reservoir Operations Team is comprised of major reservoir owners and water management entities involved with water use in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Team members include the Colorado River Water Conservation District (Wolford Mountain), Denver Water (Williams Fork, Dillon), Cities of Aurora & Colorado Springs (Homestake), Bureau of Reclamation (Granby, Green Mountain, Ruedi, Shadow Mountain, Willow Creek), Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Windy Gap), the Upper Colorado River Basin Endangered Fish Recovery Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Weather Service, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Division of Water Resources.
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